Plants perennial; bisexual; usually densely to loosely cespitose, with or without rhizomes, occasionally stoloniferous. Culms 5–150(275) cm, usually glabrous and smooth throughout, sometimes scabrous or densely pubescent below the inflorescences. Sheaths from open to the base to closed almost to the top, in some species sheaths of previous years persisting and the blades usually deciduous, in other species the senescent sheaths rapidly shredding into fibers and decaying between the veins and the blades not deciduous; collars inconspicuous, usually glabrous; auricles absent; ligules 0.1–2(8) mm, membranous, sometimes longest at the margins, usually truncate, sometimes acute, usually ciliate, sometimes erose; blades flat, conduplicate, involute, or convolute, sometimes glaucous or pruinose, abaxial surfaces usually glabrous or scabrous, sometimes puberulent or pubescent, rarely pilose, adaxial surfaces usually scabrous, sometimes hirsute or puberulent, with or without ribs over the major veins; abaxial sclerenchyma tissue varying from longitudinal strands at the margins and opposite the midvein to adjacent to some or all of the lateral veins, longitudinal strands sometimes laterally confluent with other strands into an interrupted or continuous band, sometimes reaching to the veins and forming pillars; adaxial sclerenchyma tissue sometimes present in strands opposite the veins at the epidermis, the strands sometimes extending to the veins and, in combination with the abaxial sclerenchyma, forming girders of sclerenchyma tissue extending from one epidermis to the other at some or all of the veins. Inflorescences usually open or contracted panicles, sometimes reduced to racemes, usually with 1–2(3) branches at the lower nodes; branches usually erect, spreading to widely spreading at anthesis, sometimes the lower branches reflexed. Spikelets with (1)2–10 mostly bisexual florets, distal florets reduced or abortive; rachillas usually scabrous or pubescent, sometimes smooth and glabrous; disarticulation above the glumes, beneath the florets. Glumes subequal or unequal, usually exceeded by the florets, ovate to lanceolate, acute to acuminate; lower glumes from shorter than to about equal to the adjacent lemmas, 1(3)-veined; upper glumes 3(5)-veined; calluses usually wider than long, usually glabrous and smooth, sometimes scabrous, occasionally pubescent; lemmas usually chartaceous, sometimes coriaceous, bases more or less rounded dorsally, slightly or distinctly keeled distally, veins 5(7), prominent or obscure, apices acute to attenuate, sometimes minutely bidentate, usually terminally or subterminally awned or mucronate; paleas from shorter than to slightly longer than the lemmas, veins sparsely to densely scabrous-ciliate, intercostal region usually smooth and glabrous at the base, usually scabrous and/or puberulent distally, bidentate; anthers 3; ovaries glabrous or with hispidulous apices, hairs persisting on the mature caryopses. Caryopses obovoid-oblong, adaxially grooved, usually free of the lemmas and paleas, sometimes adhering along the groove, sometimes adhering more broadly; hila linear, from 1/2 as long as to almost as long as the caryopses. x = 7. Name from the Latin festuca, ‘stalk’, ‘stem’, or ‘straw’—a name used by Pliny for a weed.

Festuca is a widespread genus, probably having more than 500 species. The species grow in alpine, temperate, and polar regions of all continents except Antarctica. There are 37 species native to the Flora region, 2 introduced species that have become established, and 5 introduced species that are known only as ornamentals or waifs. One species, F. rubra, is represented by both native and introduced subspecies.

NOTE ADDED July 2010: Work by Catalan and her colleagues indicates that the limits of Festuca, Vulpia, Schedonorus and Lolium all need to be reconsidered. See Catalan et al 2003 and subsequent works (found using the various tools now available on the web).

Many native species provide good forage in western North American grasslands and montane forests. Important cultivated species include Festuca rubra, grown for forage and as a turf grass, and F. trachyphylla, used as a turf grass and for erosion control. Both these species have been widely introduced to many parts of the world. A number of species are cultivated as ornamentals—including F. amethystina L., F. cinerea Vill., F. drymeia Mert. & W.D.J. Koch, F. elegans Boiss., F. gauthieri (Hack.) K. Richt., F. glauca Vill., F. kasmiriana Stapf, F. mairei St.-Yves, F. muelleri Vickery, F. pallens Host, F. pseudoeskia Boiss., F. rupicaprina (Hack.) A. Kern., F. spectabilis Jan, and F. varia Haenke. These species have not become established in the Flora region; only F. amethystina and F. glauca are included in this account.

The distribution of some taxa that are grown for turf, revegetation, and, to a lesser extent, horticulture—such as Festuca rubra subsp. rubra, F. trachyphylla, F. filiformis, and F. valesiaca—is continually expanding because of their wide commercial availability. The occurrence of these in the Flora region is no doubt much more extensive than current herbarium collections indicate.

The taxonomy of the genus is problematic and contentious, and this treatment is far from definitive. Keying the species ultimately relies on characters that are sometimes difficult to detect on herbarium specimens, such as ovary pubescence and leaf blade sclerenchyma patterns. Because of the intraspecific variability in many characters, combinations of overlapping characters must be employed for identification.

The distribution of sclerenchyma tissue within the vegetative shoot leaves is often an important diagnostic character in Festuca. Taxa in a small region can often be identified reliably without resorting to consideration of these patterns but, for the Flora region as a whole, their use is essential. These patterns should be observed in cross sections made from mature, but not senescent, leaves of vegetative shoots, 1/4 to halfway up the blades; they can be made freehand, with a single-edged razor blade. Sections are best viewed at 40× or greater magnification, and with transmitted light (polarized if possible).

There are five main sclerenchyma distribution patterns in Festuca. Almost all species have a strand of sclerenchyma tissue along the margins and opposite the midvein against the abaxial epidermis. Strands may be narrow (about as wide as the adjacent veins or narrower) to broad (wider than the adjacent veins). Additional strands are often present at the abaxial surface opposite the veins; these strands may be confluent, sometimes combining to form a cylinder around the leaf and appearing as a continuous ring or band in the cross sections. Some species have additional strands on the adaxial surface opposite some or all of the veins. Another variant is for the abaxial sclerenchyma strands to extend inwards to some or all of the vascular bundles (veins), forming pillars in the cross sections. If both the abaxial and adaxial strands extend inward to the vascular bundles, they are said to form girders.

Some of the patterns described may co-occur within a leaf. For instance, some veins may be associated with pillars, others with girders; some sclerenchyma strands within a leaf may be confluent, whereas others are not. Although there may be considerable variation in the extent of sclerenchyma development, the general pattern within a species is usually constant. It is this that makes such patterns useful diagnostic characters, particularly for those needing to identify plants in vegetative condition. They have not, however, been examined for all species.

Descriptions of leaf blades are based on the leaves of the basal vegetative shoots, where present. For those without basal tufts of vegetative shoots, the cauline leaves are described. Width measurements are provided for leaves that are usually flat, or almost so, when encountered in the field or herbarium. “Diameter” is given for leaves that are usually folded or conduplicate when encountered; for leaves that are oval in cross section when folded, it is the largest diameter (or width).

Closure of the leaf sheaths should be checked on young leaves, because the sheaths often split with age, leading to underestimations of the extent of their closure. The fraction of the leaf sheath that is closed varies within and between species of Festuca, but the species can be divided into three categories in this regard: those such as F. rubra, in which the leaves are closed for at least 3/4 their length; those such as F. saximontana, in which they are closed from 1/3 to slightly more than 1/2 their length; and those such as F. trachyphylla, in which they are not closed or closed for less than 1/4 their length. The descriptions indicate to which of these categories each species belongs. Lemma awns tend to be longer, and should be measured, on the distal florets within a spikelet.

Under adverse conditions, many species may proliferate vegetatively, where leafy bulbils or shoots form in place of some or all spikelets. Some populations of Festuca are largely (or completely) sterile, reproducing almost entirely through such bulbils, a process termed pseudovivipary. Pseudoviviparous plants may be common or even abundant in certain areas and habitats. Since these stabilized forms are largely reproductively isolated, often of unusual ploidy, and largely morphologically distinct, they are treated as separate species. Although the lower bracts in pseudoviviparous spikelets are usually more or less normal in form, they are sometimes elongated or distorted, as are the upper bracts.

Festuca subg. Montanae contains approximately 20–25 species. It has been divided into seven sections that are widely distributed on all continents except Africa and Antarctica. One monospecific section occurs in North America.

Festuca subg. Obtusae has been divided into two sections. The two species which occur in eastern North America belong to Festuca sect. Obtusae E.B. Alexeev. A third species, F. japonica Makino, belongs in Festuca sect. Fauria E.B. Alexeev.

Festuca subverticillata grows in moist to dry, deciduous or mixed forests with organic rocky soils, from Manitoba to Nova Scotia, south to eastern Texas, Florida, and north-eastern Mexico.

Plants that are sparsely pilose over the sheaths and blades have been named F. subverticillata f. pilosifolia (Dore) Darbysh. They frequently grow in mixed populations with F. subverticillata (Pers.) E.B. Alexeev f. subverticillata.

Festuca subverticillata resembles F. paradoxa, but its spikelets are less crowded on the branches.

Festuca paradoxa grows in prairies, open woods, thickets, and low open ground, from Wisconsin to Pennsylvania, south to northeastern Texas and northern Georgia. It resembles F. subverticillata, but its spikelets are more crowded on the branches.

Festuca subg. Subulatae contains about 30–35 species. It is known from eastern Asia and western North America, as well as Central and South America. Three of the five sections that have been described occur in North America.

Festuca sect. Subulatae Tzvelev

Plants loosely cespitose. Innovations extravaginal. Blades lax, flat or convolute; ribs shallow and indistinct; sclerenchyma forming pillars or girders at the major veins. Calluses sometimes wider than long, sometimes narrow, scabrous at the margins; lemmas chartaceous, entire, awned or unawned; ovary apices densely pubescent.
Festuca sect. Subulatae is the largest section in this subgenus and contains about 20–25 species. Its range includes eastern Asia, western North America, and Central and South America.

Festuca subulata grows on stream banks and in open woods, meadows, shady forests, and thickets, to about 2800 m. Its range extends from the southern Alaska panhandle eastward to southwestern Alberta and western South Dakota, and southward to central California and Colorado.

Festuca subulata differs from F. subuliflora in having blunter, glabrous calluses and glabrous, often scabrous or puberulent leaf blades that are obscurely ribbed.

Festuca sororia grows in open woods and on shaded slopes and stream banks, at 2000–3000 m. It is restricted to the United States, growing from central Utah and Colorado to Arizona and New Mexico. A single puzzling specimen is the basis for the reported occurrence of this species in Missouri (Yatskievych 1999).

Festuca sect. Elmeri E.B. Alexeev

Plants loosely cespitose. Innovations extravaginal. Blades lax, flat or convolute; ribs shallow and indistinct; sclerenchyma girders present at the major veins. Calluses wider than long, scabrous at the margins; lemmas chartaceous, minutely bidentate, awned; ovary apices densely pubescent.
One species has been placed in this section.

Festuca elmeri grows on moist wooded slopes, usually below 300(500) m, from Oregon to south-central California. The more southerly populations, which have larger spikelets with 5–6, rather than 3–4, florets and a more compact inflorescence with more or less erect panicle branches, have been named F. elmeri subsp. luxurians Piper.

Festuca subuliflora grows in shady sites in dry to moist forests, usually below 700 m. Its range extends from southwestern British Columbia to central California. Superficially, it resembles F. subulata; it differs in having more elongated and distinctly hairy calluses, and often in having softly pubescent foliage and more strongly ribbed blades.

Festuca L. subg. Festuca

Plants loosely or densely cespitose, with or without rhizomes. Innovations intravaginal or extravaginal. Blades usually more or less stiff, setaceous if lax, usually conduplicate, sometimes convolute or flat; ribs usually distinct; sclerenchyma girders sometimes present at the major veins. Calluses wider than long, scabrous on the margins; lemmas usually membranous or chartaceous, rarely somewhat coriaceous, usually entire, sometimes minutely bidentate, usually awned, sometimes unawned; ovary apices glabrous or sparsely to densely pubescent.

Festuca subg. Festuca is most abundant in the Northern Hemisphere, but it is distributed on all continents except Antarctica. Estimating the number of species in this subgenus is difficult in the absence of adequate treatments for many parts of the world, but it probably exceeds 400.

Festuca altaica is a plant of rocky alpine habitats, arctic tundra, and open boreal or subalpine forests. Its primary distribution extends from Alaska eastward to the western Northwest Territories, and south in the alpine regions of British Columbia and west-central Alberta. Disjunct populations occur in Quebec, western Labrador and Newfoundland, and in Michigan, where it may be introduced. From the Bering Sea it extends westward to the Altai Mountains of central Asia.

The spikelets of Festuca altaica are lustrous and usually intensely purplish; plants with greenish spikelets have been named F. altaica f. pallida Jordal. A form producing pseudoviviparous spikelets, F. altaica f. vivipara Jordal, has been described from Alaska.

Festuca hallii is a major component of grasslands in the northern Great Plains and the grassland-boreal forest transition zone, where it is an important source of forage. Its range extends from the Rocky Mountains of Canada east to western Ontario and south to Colorado. At the southern end of its range in Colorado, it grows in alpine meadows.

Festuca hallii differs from F. campestris in usually having short rhizomes, stiffly erect panicles, and smaller spikelets. Where the two species are sympatric, as in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, F. hallii is usually found at lower elevations.

Festuca campestris is a common species in prairies and montane and subalpine grasslands, at elevations to about 2000 m. Its range extends from southern British Columbia, Alberta, and southwestern Saskatchewan south through Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. It is highly palatable and provides nutritious forage.

Festuca campestris differs from F. hallii in having larger spikelets, less stiffly erect panicles and, usually, in lacking rhizomes. Where the two are sympatric, F. campestris tends to grow at higher elevations.

Festuca thurberi is a large bunchgrass of dry, rocky slopes and hills, open forests, and meadows in montane and subalpine regions, at (1000)2000–3500 m. Its range extends from southern Wyoming south through Utah and Colorado to New Mexico.

Festuca californica grows on dry, open slopes and moist streambanks in thickets and open woods, from sea level to 2000 m. Its range extends from Clackamas County, Oregon, to the Sierra Nevada and southern California; it is not known to extend into Mexico. It is the largest species of Festuca in the Flora region.

Festuca californica subsp. californica is the most widespread variety, growing from west-central Oregon to central California. The lower leaf sheaths are typically glabrous and scabrous, but sometimes have spreading hairs. This subspecies differs from subsp. parishii in having wider and longer leaf blades and more extensively developed sclerenchyma.

Festuca californica subsp. parishii grows in southern California, in the San Bernardino, San Gabriel, and Palomar mountains. Its leaf blades tend to be narrower and shorter than in subsp. californica (10–30 cm long versus more than 30 cm long), and the sclerenchyma is less developed, with pillars only sometimes present and girders absent. The lower leaf sheaths are densely retrorsely pubescent.

Festuca L. sect. Festuca

Plants loosely or densely cespitose, with short rhizomes or without rhizomes. Innovations mostly intravaginal. Blades more or less stiff, setaceous if lax, usually conduplicate, sometimes convolute or flat; ribs usually distinct; sclerenchyma usually only developed on the adaxial surface, sometimes forming pillars or girders at the major veins. Calluses wider than long, scabrous on the margins; lemmas chartaceous, apices usually entire, rarely minutely bidentate, usually awned, sometimes unawned; ovary apices usually pubescent, sometimes sparsely pubescent, rarely glabrous.

Festuca sect. Festuca is most abundant in the Northern Hemisphere. Its species are native to all continents except Antarctica. There are perhaps 400 or more species in this section, with new ones constantly described.

Festuca rubra is interpreted here as a morphologically diverse polyploid complex that is widely distributed in the arctic and temperate zones of Europe, Asia, and North America. Its treatment is complicated by the fact that Eurasian material has been introduced in other parts of the world. In addition, hundreds of forage and turf cultivars have been developed, many of which have also been widely distributed.

Within the complex, morphologically, ecologically, geographically, and/or cytogenetically distinct taxa have been described, named, and given various taxonomic ranks. In some cases these taxa represent extremes, and in other cases they are morphologically intermediate between other taxa. Moreover, hybridization and/or introgression between native taxa, and between native and non-native taxa, may be occurring. In Iceland and southern Greenland, putative hybrids between Festuca frederikseniae and F. rubra have been reported, and named F. villosa-vivipara (Rosenv.) E.B. Alexeev.

Overlap in morphological characters between most taxa in the complex has led some taxonomists to ignore the variation within the complex, calling all its members Festuca rubra without qualification. This obscures what is known about the complex, and presents an extremely heterogeneous assemblage of plants as a single “species”—or a mega-species. The following account attempts to reflect the genetic diversity of the F. rubra complex in the Flora region. All the taxa are recognized as subspecies, but they are not necessarily equivalent in terms of their distinction and genetic isolation. Much more work on the taxonomy of the F. rubra complex is needed before the boundaries of individual taxa can be firmly established. Some variants that need attention are (1) plants growing on the sandy shores of the Great Lakes that have glaucous leaves and spikelets, sometimes treated as F. rubra var. juncea (Hack.) K. Richt., (2) native plants along the James Bay and Hudson Bay shore that are ecologically distinct from F. rubra subsp. rubra, (3) native plants growing in marshes, sometimes called F. rubra var. megastachys (Gaudin) Hegi (Dore and McNeill 1980), (4) seashore variants along the Atlantic coast of North America, (5) plants with glaucescent leaves and spikelets which are widely distributed in the Flora region and have been called F. rubra subsp. glaucodea Piper, (6) the widespread variant with pubescent to villous lemmas, sometimes called F. rubra f. squarrosa (Hartm.) Holmb.

Festuca earlei is sometimes confused with F. rubra. It differs in having pubescent ovary apices.

Festuca rubra subsp. arctica grows in sands, gravels, silts, and stony soils of river banks, bars, and flats; in periglacial outwashes, beaches, sand dunes, muskegs, solifluction slopes, and scree slopes in tundra, subarctic forest, and barren regions; and subalpine areas in the mountains. It extends from Alaska, the southern part of the Canadian arctic archipelago, and Greenland to northwestern British Columbia, the coast of Hudson Bay and James Bay, and Quebec and Labrador, extending farthest south in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta. It also grows in arctic and subarctic Europe and Asia, and in the Ural Mountains.

Festuca rubra subsp. arenaria is a European taxon that grows in maritime sands and gravels. It is known in the Flora region only from one specimen collected on Vancouver Island; it is not known to have persisted. The description is based on the range of variation seen in Europe. In the Flora region, the name has long been misapplied to F. richardsonii Hook. [= F. rubra subsp. arctica], which also has hairy lemmas.

Festuca rubra subsp. aucta is a coastal taxon, growing above the high tide line in the sand of stabilized sand dunes, beaches, etc., or in silt deposits. Its range extends along the Pacific coast from the Kamchatka Peninsula through the Aleutian Islands, Queen Charlotte Islands, and Vancouver Island and the adjacent continental coastline. Festuca pseudovivipara has been described as a form of F. rubra subsp. aucta, but differs from that taxon in having pseudoviviparous spikelets. It is also ecologically, altitudinally, and probably reproductively isolated from F. rubra subsp. aucta.

Festuca rubra subsp. commutata is extensively used for lawns and road verges. It is native to Europe, growing from southern Sweden southward, but is widely introduced elsewhere in the world. In the Flora region, it is common south of Alaska, Yukon Territory, and the Northwest Territories.

Festuca rubra subsp. fallax is a robust taxon that grows in damp, often disturbed places. It is native to northern and central Europe, but has been introduced widely in the Flora region, occurring from British Columbia to eastern Quebec and south to California. It is now common in some areas, occasional in others.

Festuca rubra var. fraterculae Rasm., an unusual form described from the nesting colonies of Atlantic puffins (Fratercula arctica) on the Faeroe Islands and reported as introduced to southern Greenland, is included here in F. rubra subsp. fallax. Its luxuriant growth (flat leaves 4–7 mm wide, long stolons, and rhizomes) appears to be a phenotypic response to the soil conditions created by the puffins.

Festuca rubra subsp. pruinosa grows in the crevices of rocks, in pilings, and occasionally on pebble or sand beaches, extending upward from the upper littoral zone of the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of North America and Europe.

Plants growing on coastal sands from California to Vancouver Island that are loosely cespitose and have abaxial sclerenchyma in large strands are sometimes distinguished as F. rubra subsp. arenicola E.B. Alexeev [= F. ammobia Pavlick]. The rhizomes are rarely present on herbarium specimens.

Festuca rubra subsp. rubra grows in disturbed soil. It is often planted as a soil binder, or as turf or forage grass, in mesic temperate parts of the Flora region. Originally from Eurasia, it has been widely introduced elsewhere in the world, including most of the Flora region, from southern Alaska east to Newfoundland and Greenland and south to California and Georgia. It also grows in Mexico. Because F. rubra subsp. rubra has often been misunderstood, confounded, and lumped with other taxa of the F. rubra complex, statements about its distribution, including that given here, should be treated with caution. It is to be expected throughout the Flora region, in all but the coldest and driest habitats.

Festuca rubra subsp. secunda grows on pebble beaches and in soil pockets on rocks, meadows, cliffs, banks, and stabilized sand dunes along seashores with high annual rainfall, on the Pacific coast of North America from Alaska south to Oregon.

Festuca rubra subsp. vallicola grows in moist meadows, lake margins, and disturbed soil, at 1000–2000 m, in montane and subalpine habitats from the Yukon Territory/British Columbia border area south to Wyoming.

Festuca prolifera is often abundant, and may be a dominant component in some habitats. The leafy bulbils or plantlets sometimes root when the top-heavy inflorescence is bent to the ground.

Festuca prolifera has two varieties: Festuca prolifera (Piper) Fernald var. prolifera, with glabrous lemmas; and Festuca prolifera var. lasiolepis Fernald, with pubescent lemmas. Festuca prolifera var. prolifera grows in arctic, alpine, or boreal rocky areas, in calcareous, basic or neutral soils, and is found in the James Bay area, Ungava Bay, western Newfoundland, Cape Breton, the Gaspé Peninsula, the White Mountains (New Hampshire), and Katahdin (Maine). Festuca prolifera var. lasiolepis is found in moist, sandy riverbanks, lake shores, rocky areas, and cliffs, often on limestone, from the southeastern Northwest Territories to northern Quebec, Anticosti Island, and western Newfoundland. Proliferous plants from southern Greenland with extravaginal shoots, named F. villosa-vivipara (Rosenv.) E.B. Alexeev, are similar to F. prolifera, but appear to be hybrids between F. rubra and F. frederikseniae.

Festuca pseudovivipara grows on coastal moun-tainsides, scree slopes, and other rocky areas, at 300–800 m. It is known only from the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia.

Festuca pseudovivipara has been described as a form of F. rubra subsp. aucta, but differs from that taxon in having pseudoviviparous spikelets. It is also ecologically, altitudinally, and probably reproductively isolated from F. rubra subsp. aucta.

Festuca earlei grows in rich subalpine and alpine meadows, at 2800–3800 m, in Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. It often grows with the non-rhizomatous species F. brachyphylla subsp. coloradensis and F. minutiflora. It can be distinguished from the former by its pubescent ovary apices, and from the latter by its larger spikelets and lemmas. Because of its short rhizomes (which are often missing from herbarium specimens), F. earlei is sometimes confused with members of the F. rubra complex. It differs from them in having pubescent ovary apices and shorter anthers.

Festuca heterophylla is native to open forests and forest edges in Europe and western Asia. In the Flora region, it used to be planted as a turf grass for shady areas, and sometimes persists in old lawns.

Festuca valesiaca is widely distributed through central Europe and northern Asia, where it grows in steppes, dry meadows, and open rocky or sandy areas. It is sold in the North American seed trade as F. pseudovina Hack. ex Wiesb., and has been collected at a few scattered localities in the Flora region, apparently having become established from deliberate seeding.

The taxonomy of the Festuca valesiaca complex is controversial, with different authors naming morphological variants and polyploid populations within it. No attempt has been made to determine which are present in the Flora region.

Festuca ovina was introduced from Europe as a turf grass. It is not presently used in the North American seed trade. The sporadic occurrences are mostly from old lawns and cemeteries, or sites seeded for soil stabilization.

Festuca glauca is widely grown as an ornamental in the Flora region because of its attractive dense tufts of glaucous foliage. It is not known to have escaped cultivation. Several other Eurasian species of fescue with white or bluish foliage are also sold in the horticultural trade as “Festuca glauca”. Determining the species involved is beyond the scope of this treatment.

Festuca filiformis is a European species that has been introduced to the Flora region as a turf grass. It grows well on poor, dry soils and is becoming a ruderal weed in some areas. It is particularly common in the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada, but has been reported from scattered locations elsewhere.

Festuca trachyphylla is native to open forests and forest edge habitats of Europe. It has been introduced and has become naturalized in many temperate regions. In the Flora region, F. trachyphylla is generally sold under the name ‘Hard Fescue’, and is popular as a durable turf grass and soil stabilizer. It is particularly common in the eastern United States and southeastern Canada, but is probably grown throughout the temperate parts of the region. Its naturalized distribution can be expected to expand.

For many years, Festuca trachyphylla was known, inappropriately, under other names, e.g., F. duriuscula L., F. ovina var. duriuscula (L.) W.D.J. Koch, and F. longifolia Thuill. Some European authors treat it as F. stricta subsp. trachyphylla (Hack.) Patzke. It has frequently been included in F. ovina.

Festuca auriculata is an amphiberingian species that extends from the Ural Mountains of Russia through Alaska to the western continental Northwest Territories. It grows on dry, rocky cliffs and slopes, in low arctic and alpine regions. In the Flora region, this species seems to intergrade with, and is sometimes included in, F. lenensis. The two species tend to differ in their leaf surfaces as well as in the width of their sclerenchyma strands. Festuca auriculata has also frequently been included in F. ovina.

Festuca lenensis is an amphiberingean species of dry, eroding, rocky slopes in alpine and low arctic habitats. Its range extends from Siberia, Russia, and Mongolia to Alaska and the Yukon Territory. In North America, this species seems to intergrade with, and is sometimes treated as including, F. auriculata. The two species usually differ in their leaf surfaces as well as in the width of their sclerenchyma strands. Festuca lenensis has been frequently included in F. ovina.

Festuca brevissima is an amphiberingian diploid species that grows in rocky tundra habitats from the Russian Far East to Alaska and the western part of the Northwest Territories. It has frequently been included in F. ovina.

Festuca brachyphylla is a variable, circumpolar, arctic, alpine, and boreal species of open, rocky places. It is palatable to livestock, and is important in some areas as forage for wildlife. The spikelets are usually tinged red to purple by anthocyanin pigments; plants which lack anthocyanins in the spikelets have been named F. brachyphylla f. flavida Polunin. Festuca brachyphylla has frequently been included in F. ovina, and it is closely related to F. saximontana, F. hyberborea, F. edlundiae, F. groenlandica, and F. minutiflora. It may hybridize with F. baffinensis and/or other species to form F. viviparoidea.

Three subspecies have been recognized in North America. Festuca brachyphylla subsp. brachyphylla is circumpolar and primarily arctic, subarctic, and boreal, extending southward in the northern Rocky Mountains. The other two subspecies are restricted to alpine regions in the western mountains.

Festuca brachyphylla subsp. brachyphylla is circumpolar in its distribution. In the Flora region, it extends from Alaska to Newfoundland, south in the mountains to Washington in the west and in the high peaks of the Appalachian Mountains of eastern Quebec and New England in the east.

Festuca brachyphylla subsp. breviculmis Fred.

Culms usually less than twice as long as the vegetative shoot leaves. Spikelets 3.5–5(5.5) mm. Lemmas 2.5–4 mm; awns 1–2(2.2) mm. 2n = 28(?) [chromosome count is unknown, but has been inferred].

Festuca brachyphylla subsp. breviculmis is endemic to California, where it grows in alpine habitats in the Sierra Nevada and White Mountains.

Festuca brachyphylla subsp. coloradensis is a common species in alpine areas of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, and New Mexico. It often grows with F. earlei, from which it can be distinguished by its lack of rhizomes, and smaller spikelets and lemmas.

Festuca saximontana grows in grasslands, meadows, open forests, and sand dune complexes of the northern plains and boreal, montane, and subalpine regions in the Flora region, extending from Alaska to Greenland, south to southern California, northern Arizona, and New Mexico in the west and to the Great Lakes region in the east. It is also reported from the Russian Far East. Festuca saximontana provides good forage for livestock and wildlife. It is closely related to F. brachyphylla, and is sometimes included in that species as F. brachyphylla subsp. saximontana (Rydb.) Hultén. It has also frequently been included in F. ovina.

The populations which grow in sandy areas around the upper Great Lakes have been named Festuca canadensis E.B. Alexeev; given the great variation in the species, there seems to be little justification for this. Three weakly differentiated taxa have been recognized at the varietal level in North America.

Culms (5)8–20(25) cm, usually 2–3 times the height of the vegetative shoot leaves, usually glabrous below the inflorescence. Outer vegetative shoot sheaths mostly stramineous; blades smooth or scabrous on the abaxial surfaces, ribs on the adaxial surfaces with hairs shorter than 0.06 mm; abaxial sclerenchyma in 5–7 narrow abaxial strands. Lemmas usually scabrous towards the apices and often along the margins.

Festuca saximontana var. purpusiana grows in subalpine or lower alpine habitats. The distribution of this taxon is poorly known; it probably extends from Alaska south to northern California. It is also reported from the Chukchi Peninsula in eastern Russia (Tzvelev 1976).

Festuca saximontana var. robertsiana Pavlick

Culms 16–37 cm, usually 2–3 times the height of the vegetative shoot leaves, usually sparsely scabrous or pubescent below the inflorescence. Outer vegetative shoot sheaths brownish on the lower 1/2; blades smooth or scabrous on the abaxial surfaces, ribs on the adaxial surfaces with hairs to 0.1 mm; abaxial sclerenchyma in 5–7 narrow strands. Lemmas often scabrous on the distal 1/2.

Festuca saximontana var. robertsiana grows in subalpine or lower alpine habitats. It has only been reported from British Columbia.

Festuca saximontana Rydb. var. saximontana

Culms 25–50(60) cm, usually 3–5 times the height of the vegetative shoot leaves, usually glabrous below the inflorescences, sometimes sparsely scabrous or pubescent; blades usually scabrous on the abaxial surfaces, scabrules to 0.1 mm; abaxial sclerenchyma in 3–5 strands, sometimes partly confluent or forming a continuous band. Lemmas smooth or scabrous distally.

Festuca saximontana var. saximontana grows throughout the range of the species.

Festuca hyperborea is a high arctic species that grows from Banks Island in the Canadian Arctic east to Greenland and south to Quebec. It differs from F. brachyphylla in its semi-prostrate habit, the loose sheaths and short blades of its flag leaves, the more pronounced ribs in its lower leaf blades, and its subterminal awn. It differs from F. edlundiae in having flag leaf blades shorter than 5 mm and smaller spikelets. It has frequently been included in F. ovina.

Festuca edlundiae is a high arctic species that is closely related to F. brachyphylla. It grows primarily on fine-grained and calcareous substrates in arctic regions of the Russian Far East, Alaska, the arctic islands of Canada, northern Greenland, and Svalbard. It resembles F. hyperborea, differing from it in having flag leaf blades that are usually at least 5 mm long and larger spikelets. Festuca edlunieae has frequently been included in F. ovina.

Festuca baffinensis grows chiefly in damp, exposed, gravelly areas in calcareous and volcanic regions. It is circumpolar in distribution, growing in arctic and alpine habitats and extending southward in the Rocky Mountains to Colorado. It has frequently been included in F. ovina. It may hybridize with F. brachyphylla and/or other species to form F. viviparoidea.

Festuca groenlandica is endemic to Greenland. Scholander (1934) initially described it as a variety of F. brachyphylla, but it differs from that species in having more extensive blade sclerenchyma, usually 7 broad abaxial strands rather than 5 narrow strands.

Festuca minutiflora grows in alpine regions of the western mountains, from southeastern Alaska and the southwestern Yukon Territory to Arizona, New Mexico, and the Sierra Nevada of California. It has often been overlooked or included with F. brachyphylla, from which it differs in its laxer and narrower leaves, looser panicles, smaller spikelets, more pointed lemmas, shorter awns, and scattered hairs on the ovary. In the southern Rocky Mountains, it may grow with F. earlei, which has short rhizomes and larger spikelets and lemmas. Festuca minutiflora has frequently been included in F. ovina.

Festuca frederikseniae grows on cliffs, rocky or sandy barrens, and alpine regions in southern Quebec (Mingan and Anticosti islands), Newfoundland, southern Labrador, and southern Greenland. It differs from F. vivipara (L.) Sm. of northern Europe and Asia in having densely pubescent spikelet bracts and fascicles, and an interrupted rather than continuous band of blade sclerenchyma. Frederiksen (1981) reported that F. vivipara occurs in southeastern Greenland, overlapping the range of F. frederikseniae and extending as far north as the southerly occurrences of F. viviparoidea subsp. viviparoidea; her paper should be consulted when trying to distinguish the complex pseudoviviparous fescues of Greenland.

In Iceland and southern Greenland, putative hybrids between Festuca frederikseniae or F. vivipara and F. rubra have been reported, and named F. villosa-vivipara (Rosenv.) E.B. Alexeev. These plants are highly variable but, unlike F. frederikseniae, produce extravaginal shoots, have closed sheaths, and have blades about 1 mm wide, with 7–9 small strands of abaxial sclerenchyma. Such hybrids can be expected within the range of F. frederikseniae in North America.

1.Plants loosely cespitose; culms usually glabrous and smooth throughout, rarely sparsely puberulent near the inflorescence; sheaths brownish, slowly shredding into fibers; abaxial sclerenchyma strands less than 2 times as wide as high; glumes and lemmas puberulent throughout or only near the apices ... subsp. krajinae
1.Plants densely cespitose; culms densely to sparsely puberulent below the inflorescence; sheaths stramineous, persistent; abaxial sclerenchyma strands 2–3 times wider than high; glumes and lemmas smooth or scabrous
near the apices ... subsp. viviparoidea

Festuca viviparoidea subsp. krajinae Pavlick

Plants loosely cespitose. Culms usually glabrous and smooth throughout, rarely sparsely puberulent near the inflorescence. Sheaths brownish, slowly shredding into fibers; abaxial sclerenchyma strands about as wide as the adjacent veins, less than 2 times as wide as high. Glumes and lemmas puberulent throughout or only near the apices. 2n = 56.

Festuca viviparoidea subsp. krajinae grows in alpine sites of the western cordillera, from southern Alaska and the Yukon Territory through British Columbia to southwestern Alberta.

Festuca occidentalis grows in dry to moist, open woodlands, forest openings, and rocky slopes, up to 3100 m. It extends from southern Alaska and northern British Columbia to southwestern Alberta, south to southern California and eastward to Wyoming, and, as a disjunct, around the upper Great Lakes in Ontario, eastern Wisconsin, and Michigan. It is sometimes important as a forage grass, but is usually not sufficiently abundant.

Festuca calligera is a poorly known, often overlooked species. It grows in grasslands and open montane forests, at 2500–3400 m, from southern Utah to south-central Wyoming and central Colorado, south to Arizona and New Mexico. It is often found with F. arizonica. Festuca calligera has frequently been included in F. ovina.

Festuca arizonica grows in dry meadows and openings of montane forests, in gravelly, rocky soil, at 2100–3400 m. Its range extends from southern Nevada and southern Utah east to Colorado and south to Arizona, western Texas, and northern Mexico. It is abundant and valuable forage in some parts of its range. It is often found with F. calligera.

Festuca arizonica differs from F. idahoensis, with which it is sometimes confused, in its prominently ribbed blades and pubescent ovary apices. It has frequently been included in F. ovina.

Festuca idahoensis grows in grasslands, open forests, and sagebrush meadow communities, mostly east of the Cascade Mountains, from southern British Columbia eastward to southwestern Saskatchewan and southward to central California and New Mexico. It extends up to 3000 m in the southern part of its range. It is often a dominant plant, and provides good forage. The young foliage is particularly palatable.

Festuca idahoensis differs from F. arizonica, with which it is sometimes confused, in its less prominently ribbed blades and glabrous ovary apices. It has frequently been included in F. ovina.

Festuca viridula grows in low alpine and subalpine meadows, forest openings, and open forests, at (900)1500–3000 m, from southern British Columbia east to Montana and south to central California and Nevada. It is highly palatable to livestock, and is an important forage species in some areas.

Festuca dasyclada grows on rocky slopes in open forests and shrublands of western Colorado and central and southern Utah. For many years it was known only from the type collection. When the seeds are mature, the panicles break off the culms and are blown over the ground like a tumbleweed, shedding seeds as they travel. This and other unusual features, such as the divaricate branching pattern and hairy pedicels, prompted W.A. Weber to place it in the monotypic genus Argillochloa W.A. Weber.